Two years ago, the Cowboys made a personnel decision that Jerry Jones told me was among the most difficult of his quarter-of-a-century in Dallas. He parted ways with DeMarcus Ware, who was deemed “too expensive” despite the fact that his career in Dallas was Hall of Fame worthy, and despite the fact that the class with which he conducted himself made him a Jones family favorite.
The parting was difficult for Ware, too. When he decided to sign with the Broncos, he told me with some sadness that he will be leaving his two young children here in DFW and that he hopes that “someday they would understand why daddy had to go to work a thousand miles away.”
Chances are, Super Bowl 50 will help them understand.
“I would just say that there’s a sense of ‘I have arrived,’ just being a champion,” said Ware after contributing greatly to Denver’s 24-10 Cam-handling of the Panthers. “It was a hard-fought battle for so many years for me.”
That would be eleven NFL seasons, to be exact, featuring 134.5 sacks. But too little “playoff contention” during his time in Dallas, and of course no Super Bowls until now.
His protege Von Miller – a Texas kid who grew up idolizing Ware – is the MVP. But Ware was similarly impactful, sacking Newton twice as the Broncos rolled to the defense-first victory.
Ware probably cemented his Hall of Fame future here, and he certainly has Cowboys Nation dreaming of a way for him to “come home.” But for the moment?
“It just feels great,” D-Ware said, “to have this moment right now.”